feverish

American  

[fee-ver-ish] / ˈfi vər ɪʃ /

adjective

1. having fever.

2. pertaining to, of the nature of, or resembling fever.

   a feverish excitement.

3. excited, restless, or uncontrolled, as if from fever.

   Synonyms:

   worked-up, fervent, impatient, frenzied

4. having a tendency to produce fever.

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feverish British  

/ ˈfiːvərɪʃ /

adjective

1. suffering from fever, esp a slight fever

2. in a state of restless excitement

3. of, relating to, caused by, or causing fever

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Other Word Forms

• feverishly adverb
• feverishness noun
• nonfeverish adjective
• nonfeverishness noun
• pseudofeverish adjective
• unfeverish adjective

Etymology

Origin of feverish

First recorded in 1350–1400, feverish is from the Middle English word feverisch. See fever, -ish ¹

Example Sentences

Before his senior year, he could become the centerpiece of a feverish bidding war between blue blood programs.

From The Wall Street Journal

She still had received no examination or medicine of any kind and her forehead felt feverish to my touch.

From Literature

But he didn’t have the expressive variety to make the horror of Hercules’ death scene match lines like “Along my feverish veins, like liquid fire, the subtle poison hastes.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Propped up in a Cincinnati hotel bed, a hacking, feverish Calvin Brown made a sudden marriage proposal to his “dear sister” Leah.

From Literature

Her take is a maelstrom of splendid beauty and doomed love, colliding at a feverish pace that makes the fidelity to Brontë’s book moot.

From Salon

Related Words

• fevered
• frantic
• frenetic
• frenzied
• furious
• heated
• hectic
• obsessive
• passionate
• restless